wet suit not suitable for scuba diving?

[stepfen]

Hi,

I came across a second hand two piece (long john + jacket) wet suit on sale. To be more specific it is a 5mm sea royal from seac sub. I was looking at the pictures and noticed that on one of the inside labels it is written something like: The use of this product is only for watersport activities such as free diving, snorkelling, surfing etc. It does not provide protection against cold (!). NOT to be used for scuba diving!!

5mm of neoprene can't provide protection against cold? Any other particular reason suits like this are not appropriate for scuba? How can one be sure which suits are for scuba and which are not? I am asking to avoid such suits in the future.

Thanks in advance

 

[BoltSnap]

Hi,

I came across a second hand two piece (long john + jacket) wet suit on sale. To be more specific it is a 5mm sea royal from seac sub. I was looking at the pictures and noticed that on one of the inside labels it is written something like: The use of this product is only for watersport activities such as free diving, snorkelling, surfing etc. It does not provide protection against cold (!). NOT to be used for scuba diving!!

5mm of neoprene can't provide protection against cold? Any other particular reason suits like this are not appropriate for scuba? How can one be sure which suits are for scuba and which are not? I am asking to avoid such suits in the future.

Thanks in advance

SeacSub makes suits for free diving that, according to them, are meant for free-diving and are not made for prolonged immersion in water under increased pressure for the length of time scuba divers stay underwater. The rubber used for free diving suits is different from the rubber used for scuba diving suits.

When you buy the suit, just make sure that it is a "scuba diving" suit and not "free diving" suit. You can tell easily from the literature accompanied by the suit or from the manufacturer's catalog and/or website.

 

[2airishuman]

I have a freediving suit that I use for scuba diving. It has outlasted my scuba diving wetsuit.

As a result, I am extremely skeptical of claims that scuba diving wetsuits are made from some sort of special compression-resistant neoprene that is not used in other suits.

 

[BoltSnap]

I have a freediving suit that I use for scuba diving. It has outlasted my scuba diving wetsuit.

As a result, I am extremely skeptical of claims that scuba diving wetsuits are made from some sort of special compression-resistant neoprene that is not used in other suits.

On the other hand, I have noticed that active free divers replace their suits on regular basis, every 1 - 2 years, and the ones that use them for free and scuba diving on frequent basis replace them more often than the others.

 

[Steve_C]

Depth of dives would make a big difference.

 

[runsongas]

sounds like a CYA measure by seac so you can't complain if the suit permanently compresses prematurely because their neoprene isn't very good

 

[Hank49]

Never heard of this before. I don’t recall junking a suit because the neoprene compressed and stayed that way..?. The wetsuits I’ve worn out tore apart on the outside. The cloth basically started falling off... and holes in he knees etc.

The longest lasting wetsuit I have is a Yazbeck. 2 piece. Just bought another one. 2 mm. My other one is....5 years old? Mostly free diving though but treated pretty rough.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The last actual wet suit I bought was a 5mm that spent it's first week on dives in the 200' range. It was more like a 3mm suit after that, but it's still in use 5 years later.

In fact, I like to take a new wet suit or semi-dry deep as soon as possible. Let's just get that inevitable compression out of the way.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Way back in the day we had nylon 1 and nylon 2 wet suits, referring to the presence of nylon on just one side or on both sides of the neoprene. There were also neoprene suits that used no nylon at all. That was significant as Nylon 2 suits were more durable, but Nylon 1 suits were more flexible, and often fit better. The no neoprene at all suits needed to be powdered to get one, but they offered a very snug fit and were arguably warmer as well as more flexible - but they were much more prone to tearing and abrasion.

Neoprene back then was not as stretchy and flexible as it is now, and nylon was not (and still is not) as stretchy as Lycra. In fact color mattered back in the day as blue and black neoprene needed less dye, and was thus more flexible than other colors, which was one reason for the limited color selection at the time, although the intervening colored wet suit trend seems to have passed, as we once again have pretty limited color selection.

In that context, a free diving suit with Lycra fabric only on the inside, would have more stretch and would be more form fitting, as well as more streamlined due to the smooth outer surface. In that regard, a dedicated freediving suit with those goals in mind would be less ideal for scuba diving.

Neoprene also varies in it's compressibility. Ideally you want a suit with neoprene that stretches a lot to make it easy to get on and more form fitting to reduce water circulation in the suit. However, you also want neoprene that is less compressible to minimize the buoyancy changes at depth. But unless you're spending serious bucks on really high quality neoprene, those traits are for the most part conflicting.

Personally, when I used to free dive, I weighted myself so that I was neutral at about 20'. This left me comfortably positive on the surface to rest between dives, but not so much that it would be overly difficult to make the initial descent. It also did not leave me overly negative at depth, which would otherwise make the ascent more difficult. Perhaps more importantly, in the event of shallow water blackout above 20' I'd be positively buoyant and come to the surface, and it would make it easier for my buddy to get me to the surface and face up.

In that regard, a suit with less change in buoyancy at depth is a mixed bag, as it would then either reduce the positive buoyancy at the surface, or increase the depth you'd have to reach to be neutral. I have no idea what the preference is now for free divers.

 

[JoshuaHeard]

All wetsuits today are made from neoprene, which is a gas-bubble filled rubber. The only difference between neoprenes is the amount and size of gas bubbles and the hardness of the rubber. Most wetsuits are also made by gluing a fabric on one or both sides of the neoprene; usually lycra, which is very stretchy. The fabric protects the neoprene and makes the wetsuit easier to get on and off.

Based on this, any wetsuit can be used safely for diving. There might be some differences performance-wise, but I'm not familiar enough with the sport of free diving to explain them. I agree with you that a 5 mm wetsuit should be fine for diving, depending on the dive conditions, of course. The only thing I can think of is that the manufacturer feels the wetsuit would not provide adequate warmth for scuba diving. I would be chilly in a 3 mm suit during a deep cold water dive for instance. But that would depend on the diver's judgment of the conditions and the size and type of wetsuit to use, not anything inherent in the wetsuit itself.